Creative Writing - The Blackened Bird

This is a poem that I wrote several years ago called 'The Blackened Bird'. The narrative of it follows somebody walking down a beach and finding a bird covered with oil. It's about nature, pollution, corruption and humanity. The bird is a symbol of and speaks of human nature and what we are doing to our earth and its beauty.  

The Blackened Bird

Once, long ago, I walked down a beach in late noon,

The sun shining sharply on each small grain of sand,

In the clear sky I saw shadows of a full moon,

The sky bursting with beauty no-one understands.

The waves seemed tranquilized by calm, serene,

The roaring rage of the once angry wind dies down,

The majesty of the evening wipes all stress clean,

Nature slowly falls to sleep and loses its frown.

The calm sun sinks below the horizon to rest,

Painting the sky with a palette of orange-pink,

I stop my walk and stare, my eyes start to ingest,

The sea’s glittering with life; I forget to blink.

As I walk down the beach with cheer, I see a sight,

A sight so sick and disgusting it makes me retch,

A bird, feathers slick with oil, walks with all its might,

An image containing horror nightmares can’t etch.

The bird clings to life; life dripping with black, slick dirt,

A blot on the dazzling beach, the beach of glory,

It stumbles around, ensnared in a world of hurt,

Its throat is clogged with oil; the death will be gory.

I stare at it with disgust, horror and pity,

It chokes on the filth of humanity, in pain,

It collapses in the sand, grubby and gritty,

The bird’s death is not noble; it will die in vain.

It dies by our hand; it chokes on our slimy greed,

It must soak in and swallow the muck of mankind,

It did not want to eat oil; it never agreed,

Mother Nature must suffer because we are blind.

Everything starts to dim and the sand turns to ash,

The sky turns black and acidic rain starts to pour,

I am brought back to reality with a crash,

The beach doesn’t seem so beautiful any more.